Washington Post LTE: A Better Ballot
Regarding the June 22 Metro article “Spain tops Democrats’ vote to fill board seat”:
In Arlington’s Democratic primary for an open seat on its county board — essentially its city council — Julius D. “JD” Spain Sr. won a crowded contest with 52 percent of the vote. A whopping 95 percent of voters, who cast their ballots in a ranked-choice voting system, expressed their preference between Mr. Spain and the second-place finisher, Natalie U. Roy.
Earlier this month, we saw a very different outcome just over the state line. In the Democratic primary for D.C.’s open Ward 7 council seat, Wendell Felder, one of 10 candidates, won with less than 24 percent of the vote. The next two candidates came in with 20.2 percent and 20.1 percent of the vote, respectively, a difference of just 16 ballots.
The two races form a stark illustration of the value of ranked-choice voting. Voters in Arlington got to rank their top three candidates for the county board. If their first choice didn’t have a chance to win, their vote still counted for a backup choice who did, giving them a greater say in the outcome in a crowded race and giving candidates a better chance to build a real coalition. D.C. voters had no such luck, and Mr. Felder and his opponents did not have the opportunity to demonstrate that they had a mandate from their constituents.
By all measures, ranked-choice voting has been a logistical success in Arlington. In an exit poll, 88 percent of voters said it was easy and 67 percent said they would like to use it again; there were strong majorities of support across age and race.
D.C. has an opportunity to adopt the same voting method. If Initiative 83 makes November’s ballot, D.C. voters will have the chance to choose to use ranked-choice voting in primary and general elections, as well as to let independents vote in taxpayer-funded party primaries. (State law already allows most Virginia cities and counties to opt into ranked-choice voting for their local elections.) D.C. residents should seize this opportunity.
Lisa D. T. Rice, Washington
Liz White, Chesterfield, Va.
Ms. Rice leads Make All Votes Count D.C., which is backing Initiative 83. Ms. White is executive director of UpVote Virginia.
